International Conference on Hepatitis B Virus

描述(申请人提供)：乙肝病毒(乙肝病毒)仍然是一种主要的公共卫生 有问题。全球有3.5亿慢性携带者，目前还没有有效的治疗方法 治疗。虽然有重组亚单位疫苗可用，但大约10%的免疫者 人群是疫苗无反应者。事实上，全世界观察到的疫苗失败率为5%-10%。 在过去的十年里，在乙肝病毒分子生物学和免疫学的基础科学方面已经取得了实质性的进展；然而，通过体外感染系统的发展，通过更好地了解慢性和肝癌发生的机制，以及通过阐明自然产生的乙肝病毒变异的功能意义和几种神秘的病毒蛋白的作用，我们的进步可以更快地推进。与面向临床的会议不同，拟议的会议旨在召集约200名科学家，研究从基础分子生物学到免疫学和致病性的乙肝病毒和相关动物模型病毒的不同方面，共同讨论最新的概念和技术进展。自1985年以来，2002年乙肝病毒会议每年举行一次，将由施家和博士和沃克·布拉斯博士组织；他们将得到一个乙肝病毒专家小组的协助，担任12次讲座和两次海报会议的主席。2002年将再次强调让更多妇女和少数族裔担任领导职务的计划。此外，还计划举办三个研讨会：1)一个将致力于初级调查人员的职业发展主题；2)第二个将集中于神秘的蛋白质，如e抗原和pres2。 包膜蛋白；3)第三个将专门研究肝细胞癌，重点放在分子生物学家经常忽视的重要问题上。口头会议的主题将包括：转录；复制；结构蛋白和受体；调节蛋白；肝细胞癌；乙肝病毒变种、丁型肝炎病毒；以及持久性、发病机制、预防和治疗以及免疫学。每届会议将由4-8次演讲组成，这些演讲是从提交的摘要中挑选出来的，由主席进行同行审查。除了高级研究人员的陈述外，还将特别鼓励年轻科学家参加讲座和海报会议。最后，有两个主旨 演讲者将被邀请讲授肝脏干细胞和肝脏再生的生物学，以及与肝炎病毒家族密切相关的结构生物学或细胞生物学。乙肝病毒、肝病和肝癌是NIAID、NIDDK和NCI研究任务的主要议题，这是唯一一次此类年度乙肝病毒会议。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major public health problem. There are 350 million chronic carriers worldwide, and there is no effective therapeutic treatment. While a recombinant subunit vaccine is available, approximately 10% of the immunized population are vaccine non-responders. In fact, a 5-10% vaccine failure rate is observed worldwide. Substantial progress in the basic science in HBV molecular biology and immunology has been made over the past decade; however, our progress can be more rapidly advanced by the development of an in vitro infection system, by a better understanding of' the mechanisms of chronicity and hepatocarcinogenesis, as well as by elucidating the functional significance of naturally occurring HBV variants and the role of several mysterious viral proteins. The proposed conference, distinct from clinically-oriented meetings, is intended to gather about 200 scientists, studying different aspects of HBV and related animal model viruses, from basic molecular biology to immunology and pathogenicity, for joint discussion of the latest conceptual and technical advances. Held annually since 1985, the 2002 HBV Meeting will be organized by Drs. Chiaho Shih and Volker Bruss; they will be assisted by a panel of expert HBV scientists acting as chairpersons for 12 lecture and two poster sessions. Plans to involve more women and minorities in leadership positions will be emphasized again in 2002. In addition, three workshops are planned: 1) one will be dedicated to the topic of career development for junior investigators; 2) the second will focus on mysterious proteins, such as e antigen and preS2 envelope proteins; 3) the third will be dedicated to hepatocellular carcinoma, (HCC), with an emphasis on important issues often overlooked by molecular biologists. The topics of the oral session will include: transcription; replication; structural proteins and receptors; regulatory proteins; hepatocellular carcinoma; HBV variants, hepatitis delta virus; and persistence, pathogenesis, prophylaxis and therapy, and immunology. Each session will be comprised of 4-8 talks, selected from submitted abstracts peer-reviewed by the chairpersons. In addition to presentations by senior investigators, younger scientists will be particularly encouraged to participate in the lecture and poster sessions. Finally, two keynote speakers will be invited to lecture on the biology of liver stem cells and liver regeneration, as well as on the structural biology or cell biology closely related to the hepadnavirus family. HBV, hepatology, and liver cancer are major topics in the research mission of NIAID, NIDDK, and NCI, and this is the only annual HBV meeting of its kind.